Surviving the Beastworld

The Market (3)

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Xavier nodded his head in understanding and started moving to another section of the market. Around us, vendors were yelling their wares, attempting to entice others into buying their goods.

"Come get the freshest meat!"

"Spices! All kinds of spices from the south!"

"Lovely trinkets from the Fire City!"

The scent of spices got stronger as we moved through the crowd, making my nose almost twitch. I could only imagine how much the smell was affecting the beastmen around me.

Then again, it wasn't like it was all bad. Just strong. I could even recognize a few scents, but most were a mystery to me. So giving up trying to identify smells, I instead turned my attention to the stalls, sometimes nudging Xavier over to a few.

The bird beastman silently obliged, letting me lead for a little. Many merchants had giant woven sacks of grounded spices. However, there were also some smaller sacks with whole spices, all dried out to last the long journey.

A few vendors tried selling their wares to me, but I simply smiled and shook my head. I had learnt my lesson from the sheep beastman and wanted to get a bit more knowledgeable about prices before I bought anything else. It would be bad if I spent all the crystals before we got everything necessary.

Sure, Xavier could help me with prices and keep others from trying to rip me off, but I also didn't want to rely on him too much. Otherwise, I'd have to constantly drag him with me whenever I went to the market.

Which will probably happen for the foreseeable future considering Ahi would get attacked and Altas.... He's likely to fall asleep halfway. I mused to myself. Besides, I don't know much about him yet, so I could also just be judging him again.

"Come get the purist salt from the Mermaid Isles! Last chance to get this salt before the cold season."

I turned my head to the beastman shouting the words, my interest peeking at his words. Because one important thing I needed was salt. We were running low on it and one couldn't live without it.

It was probably one of the few other things I was willing to risk buying today. Especially if it was limited. Which it probably was.

The ocean had to be thousands of miles away and I wasn't quite sure of other ways one could get salt. I mean I had heard of salt mining and rock salt, but I had no idea how that worked.

"How good is the salt from the Mermaid Isles?" I asked Xavier, shifting my gaze to the bird beastman. "I think we'll need to get some salt..."

"It's probably the best on the Beast Continent which also makes it the most expensive." Xavier answered, heading over to the stall which had gotten a few beastmen thanks to the merchant's yelling.

I pursed my lips at those words. "How expensive?"

Salt was important to survive, but we also didn't need the most expensive kind. Then again, it could depend on the quality of the salt. That being said, the price could also affect how I preserved things.

Salt would be the easiest way, but considering Atlas had that ice ability... perhaps a frozen cellar would work too. Granted it didn't feel too good relying on that alone. Running the palace seemed to tire him out enough. I didn't want to overwork the guy.

It seemed that I would have to look at other ways of preserving stuff. Perhaps see how others were doing it in the city or if there were other things in the market that I could use.